Clearing your head in the mountains in winter is relatively easy. Look out the window and go for a quick lap. It’s astonishing how the environment you’re in (when it’s that extraordinary) supports your well being.

I am no longer up a mountain full time and whilst life is pretty good at the moment, I still want to be able to clear your head of all the normal day-to-day stuff every now and again.

During the Giro I promised some content about Simon Yates and our take on the effort ahead of him in Stage 19 on the Friday but, by the time I’d got my thoughts together stage 18 had finished and he was showing signs of losing his momentum. We’re not, with our first Finestre concept based road bike nearly ready to go.

When someone comes to us for a bike they’ve usually got their own ideas and a dream in their mind and massive expectations. It’s my job to meet and exceed those expectations, on every level. This ain’t the high street after all.

I’ve had a busy few weeks, with customers going off to Majorca, the Alps (to ride the Etape) and most recently at least four bikes I’ve looked after took part in Ride London in the terrible weather yesterday. So, thought it was time to reflect on what we’ve done so far.

I have a number of influences some for their work, others for their character. For me Will Alsop, who sadly died last weekend, has been and will continue to be an inspiring influence on me and my work for both his ideas and his extraordinary personality.

There’s been a few new car-bike brand collaborations recently, as companies try to get more involved in the bike market. We’ve put together a little collection of five of the world’s most expensive and in some cases, less, er, sensible, bikes. Including one which uses real butterfly wings, by Damien Hirst. Our’s is slightly more vegan friendly, using only M.C.Escher’s Butterflies.

I spent the best part of two years driving up and down the A4 and E70 in Northern Italy visiting, talking to and trying to understand the partners required to make bikes to the standard I’d dreamt of. I visited a roll call of Italian craftspeople, some of the best factories and workshops in Northern Italy.

Spoon Customs designs and fabricates bikes which we think are wonderful. That’s our view, and you’d expect us to be pretty stoked on our own product.

For our customers however, buying a new bike from our little company represents a huge leap of faith. One which some of you have taken (which is awesome!) but as we start to sell bikes to people all over the world, we have to work extra hard to demonstrate that we’re always going to stand behind what we do.

Read about our collaboration with the Foundation and Company that looks after world famous graphic artist, M.C.Escher's legacy and work. The aim of this collaboration was to bring Escher’s work to a new audience, whilst also highlighting the paradoxical properties of steel in performance bike design. Photos by Matt Ben Stone

We’ve opened a bricks and mortar workshop in Brighton’s North Laines. The workshop is home to Spoon Customs and provides a space where people can come to discuss their new bike, get fitted, or have their bike serviced.

What is ‘Further and Faster’? We want to make the road a nicer place to be, for longer. We use this shorthand, to articulate our design approach, and check our ideas. And it seems to make sense to the people who've ridden our first bikes.

We have three special build slots available now for three customer project bikes to be designed, fabricated and finished in time for delivery at Europe’s largest handmade bike show, Bespoked 2018 in Bristol.

A while back before I started the company, I started building a custom BMX for a friend. It was actually for his nephew (a junior Haro rider) who wanted a dirt bike but couldn’t get one from his sponsor. A world away from the IzoardRR and fast road bikes that we now make.

We've moved our offices to Brighton. Our seaside space is almost up and running, and means we can look after more customers here in the UK. Consultations, fit and tyre kicking, now just a quick trip to the seaside. If you've not signed up for updates yet, give us your email on the website sign up and we'll let you know when the beers are cold.